Enhancing Oncology Telehealth: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Evaluations

The COVID-19 pandemic is catapulting telehealth from a budding technology to a cornerstone of oncology care, and it is highlighting the ongoing need to refine how we evaluate telehealth so it remains effective for future care scenarios.

Building on the pandemic-driven imperative to evaluate what works, telehealth evaluation methods in oncology are rapidly evolving to sustain uninterrupted cancer care. Teleconsultations—specifically synchronous video and telephone visits—are emerging as crucial tools that enhance continuous patient management and achieve high satisfaction, as demonstrated in a SAGE study reporting high satisfaction with video and phone visits.

The same digital platforms that enable seamless care during the pandemic are also fostering interdisciplinary communication, linking professionals across distances. These adaptations involve addressing both technical and organizational challenges. Enhanced remote care efficacy—particularly in triage and multidisciplinary team coordination for brain tumor care—is described in a Neuro-Oncology supplement on remote workflows in brain tumor care.

As coordination strengthens, access pathways are widening as well. Evaluations show telehealth helps overcome barriers such as travel distance, broadening oncology access, as shown in an ASCO Global Oncology analysis. However, benefits are uneven for patients facing limited digital literacy, language barriers, variable reimbursement, or inadequate broadband.

Building on these access gains, evaluation methods are also being reshaped to track equity and effectiveness over time. If robust digital access is lacking, telehealth’s promise can stall—making it essential to address infrastructure and literacy gaps, as noted by a BMC Digital Health study.

Key Takeaways:

• Evaluation is shifting from proving feasibility to measuring sustained value, with patient experience (satisfaction, continuity) positioned alongside clinical outcomes.
• Workflow gains in triage and multidisciplinary coordination are tightly linked to improved access, especially when travel and scheduling barriers are removed.
• Access benefits are uneven without digital literacy, language support, reimbursement stability, and broadband—factors that evaluation frameworks must now track.
• Future-ready oncology telehealth depends on pairing technology deployment with equity-focused measurement to guide continuous improvement.